


Sweetheart

by GalaxyAqua



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5035132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyAqua/pseuds/GalaxyAqua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lord, help her heart, because this stupid crush on Kotori Minami is never going to go away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweetheart

**Author's Note:**

> stupid kotoumi getting-together fic I couldn't resist writing

When she realized for the first time she was in love, Umi wanted nothing but to escape.  
  
It was nothing against the object of her affection; on the contrary, she adored the flighty and beautiful (and stunning and kind and gorgeous, and oh god, she’s already in too deep, someone stop this, please) Kotori Minami so much she could burst with emotion, but she was not ready - and may never have been ready, to deal with it.

Or anything, for that matter. Umi just sucked at dealing with things, and that was a fact.

They had known each other for years, and to Umi it didn't feel like the relationship jump would be smooth; if it happened, at all. Half of the matter was because Kotori was grace and sweetness and creativity (blossoming like a flower in the springtime, shut up inner Umi, no-one wants to hear this stupid ass poetry), whilst Umi was just... well, herself. With her archery and her sappy little lyrics and her stern nature.  
  
It would just never work out.  
  
And with these thoughts in mind, she spent idle days at school trying to forget about her feelings and scolded the other girls (namely Honoka, who wouldn’t hold it against her) double the amount to take her mind off of it. She dedicated herself in heart and soul to her daily routine - never letting her eyes wander, never batting an eye in Kotori's general direction.  
  
Of course, that was where all her problems started.  
  
"Umi-chan," Kotori greeted quietly one morning, peering innocently up at the girl through long, hooded lashes. She sat at her desk as if waiting for her. The gentle smile never left her face. "Are you avoiding me?"  
  
Umi felt her heart stop, because _haha whoops, that obvious, huh?_  
  
"N-no, not at all!" She heard herself protest wildly, hands waving for emphasis. Kotori’s pretty eyes stared curiously back, in that way that made the archer’s knees go weak, and her heart beat a mile a minute. She laughed, in that clearly nervous sort of way, hoping that Kotori would just let it go. "Of course not! Why would I be avoiding you?"  
  
"Umi-chan..."  
  
"I'm not! I'm really not!"  
  
"Did ... did I do something wrong?"  
  
_Yes,_ Umi thought.  
  
"No!" Umi said. The look on Kotori's face told her that the other idol was not entirely happy, but bless her considerate nature, she did not press any further. Umi held back a sigh of relief.  
  
For once, she wished Honoka would interrupt them (she always did so at the worst of times, bless her idiotic face), but her prayers were not answered. They stayed put, the bluenette struggling not to stare into those gorgeous golden eyes and failing miserably.

How does the sun just reflect off those irises so perfectly? No, scratch that, why is Kotori so perfect in general?  
  
"Uh, hey," Umi ventured after a short silence, immediately catching Kotori's interest. The lie slipped through easily; "I'm not avoiding you, okay? I've just been kinda busy lately. That's all. I'm sorry."  
  
The speed at which Kotori's face brightened was impressive (and dazzling, lord help her heart).

"Okay," she chirped with a beam, placated. She clapped her hands together, petite nails reflecting a little of the light in the room. "So we're good?"  
  
"Y-yeah, we're good."  
  
"Great! So I wanted to talk to you about this new design, right..."  
  
Tuning out now that she had gladly escaped that confrontation, Umi took on a thoughtful countenance to figure out a plan B. She would not avoid Kotori anymore, but maybe she could spend more time with the others... maybe Maki would be a good idea... she seemed sensible enough...  
  
Later that day, when she approached the pianist with the request to hang out, Maki took one look at her and rolled her eyes.  
  
"What are you doing here?" She asked, twirling a finger through her red hair. "If this is about your fight with Kotori, don't get me involved."  
  
Umi had the decency to look offended, "What fight? I just wanted to talk to you... we could write a couple of songs or something. Maybe?"  
  
"You've been ignoring Kotori all week." Maki stated blandly, giving her a long look. "Unless we're writing a song confessing your true feelings for her, I'm not having any of this."  
  
"M-my true feelings? I don't... I'm not..." Despite her words, Umi felt her face redden. She wasn’t that obvious, was she? Maki didn’t look impressed. Not knowing how to convince Maki any further, she settled with, "A-anyway! It's not a fight. Nothing's going on."  
  
"Right... well, when you've got yourself sorted, maybe I'll hang out with you." Maki nodded her head, face softening, somewhat apologetic. "Sorry, I had plans today anyway, so I can't. I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay."  
  
Umi smiled at her underclassman, glad for the understanding. "Thanks, Maki."  
  
"Good luck," the redhead waved farewell and began to move off. "Fix things up soon. You might be surprised at what you end up with."  
  
Umi mulled over the words for a while, but was still adamant that confessing to Kotori would be wrong.  
  
There's no point to it, really! Kotori would never return her feelings.

But a stupid little voice in her head asked, _what’s the harm in trying?_

A lot of things, really. She could lose Kotori’s friendship. Be alienated by the other girls. Embarrass herself entirely, and never be able to leave the house again. Oh god, what if that actually happens? She’ll become a hermit and migrate to Canada. That sounded like a solid plan.

Then it’s settled, right?

“Honoka,” Umi tried, peering around for signs of Kotori before clutching onto the other girl’s sleeve. “What do you think about me going to Canada?”

“What?!” Honoka shrieked, through a mouthful of bread. “What brought this on so suddenly? You’re not pulling a ‘surprise, but I’m moving countries’ trick on me, are you?”

“N-no…” The archer looked at her feet, despondent. “I’m just going to get rejected and die an early death…”

“Umi, no, get a hold of yourself!” Honoka shook the other by the shoulders, trying to bring Umi back to earth. “What’s all this about, anyway?!”

“Honoka, it’s already over.”

“What the heck, Umi!?!” Showing a brief sense of perception, surprising coming from Honoka, she asked, “Is it Kotori? Is Kotori sending you to Canada? Is that why you haven’t been talking to her lately?”

“Well, not exactly, but _kinda_ – “

“You like her, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but not like in a –“

“You want to kiss her, don’t you?”

 _Honoka, be a little more subtle, why don’t you?_ She hadn’t even thought that far ahead, but now that Honoka’s put the image in her mind…

“I’m hopeless,” was Umi’s only reply, covering her rapidly reddening face in her hands and dropping her head onto Honoka’s shoulder. The orange-haired girl patted her on the head.  

“You’re stupid,” agreed Honoka. “You’re practically dating Kotori, already! Just make it official, jeez.”

_Was that how it looked like to other people?_

An outsider’s opinion never bothered Umi as much as it did at that specific point in time. _Already dating?_ Umi wished. That would have been easier. Then she could have just walked up to Kotori, grabbed her by the hand, and been like, ‘yo, what’s up, hey there beautiful, I love you, my sweetheart, honey, angel’ etc. etc.

But she can’t. Because she’s Umi. And they’re not actually dating.

(Also, remind her to never pull that on Kotori even if they were together. No-one should talk like that. Ever.)

Umi wondered if the more she thought about it, the less scary the thought of confessing would be. Heck, she was actually considering it now, and if that wouldn’t be the biggest show of recklessness and character development, she wouldn’t know what would be.

Okay, whatever.

She was going to do it.

And then migrate to Canada.

It was settled.

“Kotori!” Umi called, after the last school bell rang, footsteps padding loudly on the concrete before softening on the wooden floors by the shoe lockers.

Kotori span around, and Umi immediately felt like running off into the other direction.

_No escape now. If you don’t say it now, you’re never going to say it._

“Kotori! Kotori, hi, how are you? Hi,” she began, resisting the urge to slap herself for sounding like an excited schoolgirl around her first crush. _… hang on a moment._

“Are you okay?” Kotori giggled, and Umi blushed.

“I’m fine!” She grinned, a bead of sweat dripping from her forehead. “Yep, good, fine. Great. And you?”

“Good,” The costume designer bent down, placing her school shoes into her locker. “Did you need to talk about something? We’re still walking home together, aren’t we?”

She rambled a bit further, as Umi tried to predict her next course of action. At this rate, they’d just fall into the easy conversation they were so well accustomed to, and that simply wouldn’t do! If they fell into routine again, then surely, she’d never muster up the courage to say…

“Kotori, I think I’m in love with you.”

At least that got her attention?

Kotori blinked, mouth open mid-sentence. She blinked a couple more times and Umi felt her stomach drop, as Kotori said ever so slowly, with those pretty petal lips, “Come again?”

Umi’s face lit up like wildfire. Oh, god. There was no way she was going to say it again. Might as well just laugh it off, haha, see, this was such a terrible idea, “Y-you know what! Never mind! It’s nothing!”

“Umi-chan.”

Eyes going everywhere but Kotori, Umi chuckled nervously. “Wow! Would you look at the time! I think I’ll have to go on ahead, sorry, I’ll see you tomorrow, aha, good bye!”

“Umi-chan!” Kotori latched onto her wrist, preventing her escape with that slender, well-formed hand. _That’s it_ , Umi thought _. I’m going to become a hermit and commit to a life on the run. I’ll have to quit school, and form a new identity, and –_

“Do you really mean it?” Kotori asked, slightly out of breath even though she hadn’t done any exercise as of yet. A light dust of pink graced her cheeks, but unlike Umi (who was sure she looked much too red to be out in the public eye), it made her look even more beautiful. Dammit, Kotori.

Not seeing any other way out, Umi bowed her head and mumbled under her breath. “… yes.”

“You really, really mean it?” A smile tugged at the corner of Kotori’s lips, though Umi wasn’t looking to see it, and suddenly, both her hands were in Kotori’s grip and the bubbly girl went way into her personal space. “That’s wonderful! I never would have thought!”

Further into her personal space, and Umi had to take a step back, still avoiding Kotori’s gaze.

_She’s too nice. She’s obviously just thinking of a kind way to turn me down._

Kotori inched even closer, until they were practically nose to nose, and Umi couldn’t drag her eyes away from her any more, opting for clutching a hand to her chest instead; trying to will down the rapid beating of her heart. “K-kotori, you’re too close,” she muttered, but much to her dismay (well, as much dismay as can come from being dizzy with the presence of the cutest girl ever), Kotori didn’t move away.  

“Umi-chan is so cute,” Kotori said happily, nuzzling their noses together. “I want to pick lots of cute clothes for Umi-chan, because cute clothes would definitely suit a cute girl like you!”

“Stop saying ‘cute’, already…”

“Say, Umi-chan,” Kotori brightened even more, if that was possible, and pulled back with a sweet smile. “How about we go clothes shopping this weekend?”

“Why?”

_If you’re going to turn me down, hurry up already. I need to pack my bags, after all._

“To get ready for our first date!”

… _wait, what?_

“W-what are you – K-kotori, you’re not – huh?”

Kotori pressed a dainty kiss to the tip of her nose, and giggled to herself.

“I love you too, silly.”

* * *

The next day, when they entered the μ's practice hand-in-hand, and Kotori kissed Umi on the cheek (right in front of everyone, good grief, Kotori, please), Honoka shot to her feet and pointed at Maki.

“I told you! I called it! I totally called it!”

Maki covered her ears and glowered a little at her upperclassman, whilst Nico grinned devilishly from her side. “I told you we weren’t betting on this.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, Maki!” Honoka groaned, holding a palm dramatically to her forehead. “Oh! My children are finally growing up…”

“Who are you calling a child?” Grinded Umi, but she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. “If anything, you’re the kid.”

“Mamaaaa,” Honoka teased, grabbing hold of Umi’s leg.

“On second thought, get lost. I don’t want a daughter like you.”

“Mamaaaaa,” Honoka whined, switching to grab hold of Kotori instead. Kotori beamed and patted her on the head.

“There, there.” She sang sweetly. “Your mothers love you very much.”

Honoka laughed, and pulled her ‘mothers’ into a group hug.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the roof, Eli piped up, “Nozomi, what are you doing?”

“Taking pictures,” replied the girl in question, suspiciously gleeful behind the camera lens. “I have a feeling they’ll be coming in handy quite soon.”

“ _Nozomi.”_ Eli groaned.

“So!” The purple-haired exclaimed, ignoring Eli’s exasperation as she waved to get everyone’s attention. “When’s the wedding?”

Umi didn’t regret throwing the shoe at her, but she guessed she was sort of glad that she wouldn’t have to migrate any time soon. She’d miss these girls, after all.


End file.
